Citizens Bank Buyout Could Mean Dark Clouds For Downtown Flint

Citizens Bank announced yesterday that they agreed be bought by Ohio based bank, FirstMerit. The announcement comes as a shock to everyone involved, and could have huge negative effects on the revitalization of downtown Flint.

The sale won't be official until the Spring of next year, so no official decisions have been announced yet.

That doesn't stop speculation that the downtown Flint headquarters may close though, considering FirstMerit already has a headquarter based in Akron Ohio.

Citizens Bank has been and Flint, and Michigan benchmark for decades now and its nerve racking to think what might happen if they close up shop downtown.

This hits home personally since my wife works in the downtown Citizens headquarters. I wonder if the people of Flint will start to feel like Citizens Bank abandoned them the way GM did.